Arakawa wrote many interesting, well-developed and sympathetic female characters, but unfortunately, her version of Lust was not among them. In a weird reversal of another common sexist cliché, the “ Women in Refrigerators” trope of killing off women/girls to fuel male angst (that we see at play in both canons with Trisha and Nina), she basically exists solely to die in order to give Roy Mustang his first big triumphant moment when he burns her to death. ![]() She’s the sole female homunculus - and thus, sole female villain - showing that even FMA is not above stooping to the Smurfette Principle. Lust in the manga and Brotherhood is sexy and bloodthirsty, and not much else. More or less, they took one of the most one-dimensional of the homunculi in the source material and turned her into one of the most nuanced and dynamic characters in her 2003 anime incarnation. But truly the best example in that vein was their version of Lust, in how they had so little to work with and managed to make so much out of her. Even Izumi got a major character development upgrade here. For all the scorn the 2003 version gets from some feminist critics in the fandom - not all of it unjustified - the writers of the first anime did a lot to find and exploit the potential of female characters who weren’t used as much in the source manga, such as Sciezka, Rose Thomas and Martel. ![]() What better than to feature an analysis of my favorite female character in the 2003 anime and the FMA franchise as a whole - the first anime’s version of the homunculus Lust? I’ve made previous, long-winded entries on my main blog about why I love her, but I figured now would be a good opportunity to explain in a more concise manner why the 2003 version of her is a fantastic character, a truly strong female character and one of my top 10 favorite anime characters ever.įor starters, let’s talk about her origins: the version of her shown in Hiromu Arakawa’s original manga. I wanted to write at least one of these entries on the actual anniversary of the first FMA anime’s premiere in Japan - October 4th. The third in a series of feminist-minded analyses of the major female characters in the first Fullmetal Alchemist anime, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the anime’s premiere.
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